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The Politics Of Health

Today's Times has a piece on the starring role of Elizabeth Edwards in her husband's campaign, and I just thought I'd add a dash of anecdotal evidence to a point the story raises: That some people inclined to support Edwards may not be doing so because of Elizabeth's cancer. The Times specifically cites an Iowa woman who told the paper she would support Hillary Clinton for this reason. And when I was in Iowa last month, I met a woman an at Obama event in Anamosa who said something similar. This woman told me she had actually caucused for Edwards in 2004--a fairly serious level of commitment--but that she just didn't see how someone he could run the country were she to fall gravely ill. So this time around, the voter told me, she'll caucus for Obama. It's tragic that voters are having to make these decisions but it's clearly also a real phenomenon.

 --Michael Crowley